


two steps forward

by translevi



Series: love at first broken bone [4]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Auruo Draws Dicks On Stuff, Auruo Is The Head Chef, Blink And You'll Miss It Sex, Bonding, Companionable Snark, Diners, F/M, Non-Sexual Intimacy, Petra Owns A Diner, Teasing, Trans Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), Trans Male Character, annie is still playing pokemon go
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-25
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-09-12 04:18:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9054991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/translevi/pseuds/translevi
Summary: It all gives so easily and finally she blends with them, mirth not quite hidden in her eyes as Auruo’s hands find his hips, squaring off with Petra who is resolutely trying to stifle her giggles. His gaze briefly goes back to Annie as he rolls his eyes.“You come into my wife’s restaurant, start trying to turn her against me, seduced our captain with your feminine wiles...”





	

The moonlight that flickered in through the curtains illuminated them, casting pale highlights across their skin, across her hair, across his face. The bed finally stops creaking as she goes rigid and then limp above him, slowly sliding off his body to slump down at his side. He rolls to face her, legs aching and still tangled with hers. Annie rubs her thighs together as they press close together again, knowing that the same wetness that coats hers covers his.

There is a familiarity and a fondness in it as they slot against each other in ways that feels unique but never new. His breasts are soft in her hands and she holds him like she will die if she doesn’t, with one hand tracing down lower to wrap her arm around his waist. His nails scratch into her back slightly, leaving unseen reminders of what they’ve done.

Her lips are wet when they press against his neck, tasting the fluttering beat of his pulse under her tongue. 

Levi breathes her name differently, unlike before when it had hitched higher, when his voice had broken before dying in a quiet call of pleasure. She could listen to him talk for days.

“Yeah?” Her throat is sore, there is a bloody bite mark on her shoulder.

“I want to take you somewhere tomorrow, somewhere I’ve been meaning to.” A million places and ideas run through her mind in moments, but she quiets them softly nuzzling further into him, breathing in the scent of smoke and rust.

Before she had wondered how a soldier could follow someone into battle knowing they would die, how humans could put their faith in others and trust them blindly.

How his squad could keep going with him even though she could taste their fear behind them when she was two steps from her prize.

Now she understands.

So she kisses his neck and nods, letting darkness consume her mind.

~~~~

The diner is thankfully mostly deserted aside from the workers there, with only two stray customers spread out through the warm dining area. He can feel Annie against his side, cold fingers pressed between the spaces of his own as she looks around, drinking in the atmosphere.

The restaurant itself was small but inside it felt open and inviting, with oak flooring and soft reds and oranges scattered about, it was a stark contrast to the snow outside and they welcomed it.

“It smells nice in here.” Annie comments beside him, pulling her hand away from his to unzip her old jacket while Levi unwraps the scarf from his neck and gently tugs her towards his preferred booth in the corner.

She settles into the booth on the side opposite of him, eyes instinctively drawn to the window, peering out towards the busy streets and soft snowflakes carried across the wind. Although she doesn’t smile, her eyes do. He’s glad he brought her here.

“I’ve wanted to take you here for awhile.” He admits, eyes briefly scanning the small bit of the kitchen area you can see from the dining room, looking for the familiar ashy or strawberry blonde that he knows to be here before he turns back to her. Little things - things that he wants, things that he needs - they come easier when talking to her. He reveals himself more when talking to her.

Her head tilts slightly, about to question further when someone else interrupts, someone who is more than happy to see them.

“Good morning, Captain!”

_ Ral’s _ is a family friendly, warm and inviting diner with top notch food and a respectable crew, and anyone that met the owner would know exactly why. Petra is all smiles when serving the polite public, teasing towards friends and with her comes a passionate drive for anything she chooses to apply herself to. It only makes sense for her to run a business.

She is quickest to adjust, taking to Annie’s presence like a duck to water. She’s had time, this world is new, Annie makes him happy.

Out of everyone that deserved happiness in this new life, they all had decided, Levi definitely deserved it the most.

She is quick to pull a notepad from her apron, tugging the pen from where it is tucked behind her ear out and twirling it in her fingers as Levi responds with a quiet good morning.

“Do you want the usual?” Pleasantries aside, she is here for business. She’ll have time to sit back and gossip with them after she attends to the other person that had just walked in. Levi’s leg bounces out of habit as he nods.

Petra has it scribbled down in a flash before her gaze turns to Annie, who still freezes slightly under it.

“And you?”

“I haven’t had much time to look at the menu yet.”

“I have a couple recommendations if you’re interested!”

Quickly she is bent over the table, flipping through the menu with her and pointing out things that she knows to taste good. She is quicker still to find out about Annie’s love of pancakes, and when she mentions the dark chocolate pancakes Annie stops, eyes widening slightly, a glimmer of hope within them.

“You can do that?”

“Yes we can!”

As Petra walks away to relay the order to the cooks and tend to the other customer, Annie looks awed.

After passing the order back, Levi catches Petra’s eye across the diner, and with a grin  she calls back in a faux sing-song voice.

“Captain’s here with his girlfriend.”

Levi flips her off.

~~~~

It is a cozy diner, Annie can understand why Levi seems to like it here so much. Although, she thinks, glancing towards the kitchen where she can see Petra grinning while teasing Auruo, there may be another reason he is so fond of here aside from the decor. Levi cares. She recognizes that in him so easily. He cares so much for the people around him, for his friends, that it may kill him one day.

She pushes back memories of when she destroyed them. When she inadvertently destroyed him.

They alternate between sitting comfortably in silence and talking softly. Her hand lays flat on the table, stretched out slightly towards him. His hand sits atop hers, thumb rubbing the fleshy part of her own thumb

He sips at his tea and she in turn drinks her hot chocolate. She knows she’s getting a cream mustache. He thinks it’s cute; so she doesn’t care.

She can hear Auruo easily, he is a loud person in general, it would seem. Sometimes she wonders how such a sweet girl could end up with a loudmouth braggart like Auruo, but then she looks at Levi and wonders how they could end up together as well.

When Petra and Auruo make their way over to them, instinctively Levi’s hand twitches atop her on, caught between the ingrained fear that tells him to pull away. She is about to take her own hand away when his grip around hers tightens. This is not something they have to hide anymore.

And then they’re there and there is no time to talk.

It’s easy for Levi to talk to Auruo and Petra, which is to be expected. She simply watches as they do so, sipping at her drink at random intervals, simply listening to the conversation until her phone vibrates. She is quick to look down, hands flying to the home button to turn the screen on, quickly typing in her passcode before opening up pokemon go. An eevee greets her, and although she has plenty, she could always have more.

The vibration and her tapping inevitably draws Auruo’s eye and she freezes for just a second under it before resuming her actions. Auruo is still tense around her, she gets that, she understands. She would be tense around someone that killed her, her friends, and the persons she loved in a past life too.

But he remains watching and with a soft hesitancy, something that reveals more about his character than he probably intended, he asks what team she’s on. Petra and Levi go silent aside them as she finally pulls her eyes from the screen to look up towards him. She remembers two things in quick succession: the way his body felt against her foot when she kicked him, and the tears of frustration that he had held back while yelling at her in the mall.

She breaths.

“Valor.”

If the look on his face is anything to go by, he isn’t surprised.

“I’m Instinct.”

She shouldn’t do this, everything in her screams at her not to do this, this is the first good calm not guided-by-friends conversation they’ve had.

“Instinct?” She asks, cocking her head to the side a little bit. “Is that new?”

His face twists to incredulous confusion. “It’s been in the game since the fuckin’ beginning.”

“Really?” There is mock surprise on her face, blue eyes widened as if a secret had finally been revealed. “I’ve never seen any gyms for them before.”

There is a beat, as what she has just said runs through the other’s brains, before Auruo’s ears turn red and splutters undignified.

“What the hell do you-”

But he cuts off when Petra  _ laughs _ , laughs so hard tears form in her eyes, laughs so hard she can’t  _ breath _ . He loves her, that much is obvious, because he cannot even manage to keep a mock anger on his face as she laughs.

It all gives so easily and finally she blends with them, mirth not quite hidden in her eyes as Auruo’s hands find his hips, squaring off with Petra who is resolutely trying to stifle her giggles. His gaze briefly goes back to Annie as he rolls his eyes.

“You come into my wife’s restaurant, start trying to turn her against me, seduced our captain with your feminine wiles...”

He’s over-exaggerating and there is a playful teasing to it that helps her piece him together more. Just then there is a call from the kitchen and he is quick to turn on his heel, entering the kitchen with a call of “what are you idiots doing now.”

It’s friendly, he is just loud and vulgar, like if Levi and Reiner had a baby--

She hates her mind.

Petra is quick to get back to work with a friendly smile to  _ both _ of them before she is off, greeting other people with a happy call.

Annie watches as he walks away, seemingly not noticing the shaking of her hand until Levi’s thumb runs over the top of her hand, pulling her attention. She looks at him slowly, blue eyes meeting the soft grey of his own.

He smiles and her breath catches, heart jumping up into her throat.

She should be used to it, used to the way it makes her feel when he shows this expression to her. Even after all this time, hearing him laugh, seeing him smile, it is rare and it never has the chance to get old. Wouldn’t get old even if he smiled every second of the day.

She thinks back to Petra and Auruo, how every negative feeling melted from him when she laughed.

She understands him pretty well, she should think.

But Levi is smiling at her, and she knows that she took two steps forward today.

~~~~

When she gets her pancakes later, there is a dick drawn on the top with whipped cream.

She doesn’t have to check to know that there is a matching one of ketchup drawn on the plate with Levi’s omelette.


End file.
